Doing What's Best - For Your Customer

A company's "brand" does not just mean their logo or icon, but the gut feeling a customer gets from their products. This gut feeling is communicated by many elements including what the company says about itself, its advertising and, of course, the ease of use of its products.
Positive experiences with products and advertising seek to remind you of a brand's good qualities, and this responsibility has shifted away from marketers and advertisers, thanks to work done years ago by the pioneers of usability.

"The bad news is that the only thing that typically unites marketing, design, product development, strategy, etc is that they are all not looking at the business from the customers' point of view."
The companies that succeed will be those that learn from the pioneers in the field of usability and break down these barriers, ultimately putting the user at the centre of their approach.


Today’s customer is more empowered than ever before.

The amount of information about brands, products and service they can now get to help them make smarter choices on their own terms, has never been greater.

They can also more easily question and challenge companies about their behaviour and practices.

They can communicate more easily with other customers and use peer groups much more to help them make more informed decisions.

All this means that customers take more control of defining value on their own terms, according to their own personal needs, than at any time previously. They can also take control of how this value is created, delivered and, in the end, actually used.

So what does this really mean for today’s marketer?

Well, in basic terms, it means that you can no longer solely rely on crafting persuasive messages because customers simply won’t buy it.

The challenge now has become one of finding out ways of earning the trust of customers and better aligning themselves with what customers are actually looking for.

Or, in other words, doing what is best for the customer and in doing so creating a greater chance of earning higher levels of loyalty, reducing marketing costs and achieving new forms of customer ‘relationships’.

This is very different to trying to create customer ‘advocates’ who spread positive word of mouth about you. This is about becoming a better advocate to your customers.

Higher levels of trust, accountability and transparency, resolves customer issues and helps them make decisions easier. It means understanding the whole context of how customers use their products and services, not just in relation to their own market.

Basically it’s about doing what’s right for them, not just what’s right for the bottom line.

It’s about using marketing approaches that helps your customers proactively and voluntarily convey their experiences to friends, family and colleagues. For example by using the social relationships that build around a brand to nurture communication, learn, share tips and experiences and provide feedback.

This is a switch from gathering data ‘about’ your customers to facilitating the creation and sharing of knowledge and information ‘held by’ the customers.

Emphasising positive partnership and support over the traditional sales-oriented relationships of present, means that customers are more likely to grant you their trust – and spread the word.